Monthly Archives: November 2011

You’ve heard of Oprah’s favourite things, well here is Steve’s favourite thing. This ingenious little invention is an in car smartphone holder…..that’s right – it holds all smartphones, not just one! Not only that, it plugs into your cigarette lighter and charges while you drive. No more messy cables, no more reaching for that phone……just plug this baby in and you’ll be hands free and fully charged.

We are very excited to be here today at the Australian Motorcycle Expo at Darling Harbour in Sydney. The motors are revving, the bikes are shining and the stunts are flying! Excitement is in the air and we’re in for a big weekend.

Christmas is only one month away….have you started your Christmas shopping?

We have 6 great technology gifts for the person who has it all. And they are all under $50! Some of the items are already discounted and there is a very special offer to say thanks for all your support throughout the year!

Use the coupon code BLOG at checkout to receive 15% off store wide before Christmas. Order your Christmas presents now and take the stress out of Christmas! www.mrmobile.net.au

We thought we’d share this email from a customer who found a solution to massive battery drain on the iPhone:

Hi Steve,

I rang the other day and spoke to you in regards the poor performance, or so i thought of my Energizer AP1201.

I investigated online the issue of the battery in the 4s and ended up ringing Applecare and discussing it with them. I was quickly put onto a senior technical adviser. Following Ed’s advice I backed up the phone via iTunes and then fully restored the phone. His advice was not too load any apps, songs etc onto it for a while and see how the battery goes.

I did this, and have progressively added all my apps and tunes back on.

I have turned off all the location services to all but 2 apps, and only use iCloud to sync my calendar, relying on iTunes over WiFi to sync/backup the rest when I get home. Siri on as well.

Since the restore it is still running on the initial 100% charge, 48hrs later with 30% charge left. Usage (awake time) of over 6 hrs. According to the System Activity App it has 8hrs left too empty. A lot more respectable than the <12hrs I was initially getting.

I think one of the main culprits in my case was the Diagnostics and Usage Data that was being sent to Apple every 30 secs, which is now set to Don’t Send. Since the restore it has only generated 7 low memory / crash reports, nothing like the 100’s it spat out in the first week.

So it appears mine’s all fixed. With the Energizer skin I will have up near 5 days power if needed.

We are across all the latest developments in technology and yes…..we are a bit techy. We’ve seen some great things this week that we thought we’d share with you.

Have you seen anything cool and techy lately?

1. End of SMS? This week we discovered a cool little app on the Blackberry, Android, Nokia and iPhone called WhatsApp Messenger. This $0.99 app allows users to send messages to other users for free. You can send text, video and images as well as voice notes. There are also no international charges – a great way to stay in touch with your global network of friends, family and colleagues.

2. iPhone the Camera of the Decade? World renowned photographer Annie Leibowitz has been quoted in a recent interview on MSNBC as saying the iPhone camera is the snapshot camera of today. That is a great testimonial for Apple, from someone who has taken photos of John Lennon!

3.What to Drink with Your Tunes: listening to music and don’t know what to drink? Now there is a website where you type in the album or artist that you’re listening to and it matches the song to a drink. Drinkify suggests that if you’re listening to the Red Hot Chilli Peppers you should drink a Bud Light and if you’re listening to Mozart you should drink a whole bottle of red wine!

4. Near Field Communication: with Near Field Communication on the horizon in Australia we will have access to cashless wallets and other innovative uses. Currently few smart phones have this capacity, but they are on their way. Just swipe your phone and payment is made.

5. Competition Corner

– Google launches Music store for web and new music app. First they take on Facebook – now iTunes…..interesting! Also not available for Aussies just yet!

The highest rated motorcycle bluetooth intercom unit in the world. They are big claims from Mr Mobile! Check out his video review of the Sena SMH10 and the SR10. Whether you are talking rider to rider, rider to pillion or to a whole group travelling together these are the units for you. Check them out!

Are you one of the lucky ones to have got your hands on the new iPhone 4S. Or are you secretly pleased that you didn’t take the leap as stories of terrible battery life flood the internet?

There is nothing more annoying than losing battery fast and it seems that the iPhone 4S is guilty. It isn’t just the chosen few who own an iPhone 4S that are plagued with trouble. Those of us who have upgraded to iOS 5 are finding that battery life on the iPhone and iPad is seriously affected. And it’s slow!

We’ve done the research and collated the best tips from the best sources, to help your battery life last longer. We’d love to hear your tips too!

One site has suggested killing off Siri. She’s the best thing about the iPhone 4S – so try these other tips first and let us know if Siri makes it out alive!

Back to Basics
There are things that always drain battery life regardless of the operating system or the device. These include data services, screen brightness and mail.

Solution
– Screen brightness – turn this down for longer battery life
– Keep these off unless you actually use them: bluetooth, WiFi, 3G (for data)
– Turn the push functionality off on your email. Or have it push less often. Go to Settings – Mail, Contacts, Calendar – Fetch New Data

iCloud Backup
You now have the option of backing up to iCloud rather than through iTunes on your computer. This will be a great relief for many – but is causing headaches for some.

Solution
Turning off non essential features in iCloud will definitely save your battery life. Go to Settings – iCloud – Storage & Backup. After turning off the backup – it more than doubled my battery life!

Buggy Bugs
There seem to be some bugs in iOS 5 which are affecting battery life. Particularly with the Calendar Alerts.

Solution
Turn off notifications in the settings for your calendar. Go to Settings – Notifications – Calendar and switch it off. It appears that the notifications feature is constantly sorting your appointments and this is sucking huge amounts of battery life.

It’s All about Location
Geo location apps need to know your current location in order to work. The new iPhone 4S has a major push on these apps and the new iOS 5 pings more regularly to find your current location. This is going to suck your battery dry faster than a starving vampire!

Solution
Go to Settings – Location Services and select the ones that you wish to be kept regularly updated. Some are a no brainer like Maps, but all those games and other apps that really don’t need to know where you are……Turn them off!

Sneaky System Services
There is a new feature in the iOS 5 update called System Services. This has features such as sending your data to Apple for their stats and information for location based ads and other services. These settings are hiding under Settings – Location Services – System Services (right down the bottom!)

SolutionTurn these ones off:
– Diagnostics and Usage (sends stats to Apple)
– Location Base iAds (on free apps that have advertising – this makes sure it is local advertising – do you ever read it anyway?
– Setting Time Zone (leave this on if you travel regularly – otherwise remember to adjust your time zone if you travel into a new one)
– Traffic (I use the traffic apps so I like the programs that use this to see where there is congestion – however turning this off will help your battery life!)

Another Solution

There are other things you can do and our bestadvice: Never get caught without a battery backup. We have a full range of iPhone battery skins that double your battery life as well as portable battery packs for your iPad and Smart phones.